Turin
Turin is located in the North of Italy, almost at the foot of the Alps, the highest mountains in Europe.
The city lies at one end of the Padanian plane, on the shores of the Po river, the longest and most important in Italy. The city is surrounded on one side by pleasant hils and the other sides offers a magnificent view over the Alps.
Turin is the capital of Piedmont and one of the largest city in Italy. It is located with Genoa and Milan in the first zone of industrializaton of our country. Now our city is mainly known for its major industry, FIAT, one of the european leader in the automotive field, but Turin was also the first capital of the young Kingdom of Italy in the past century.
Indeed, it was in Turin that, in the mid of hte XIX century, arose the political and militar movement that made the unity of Italy, until then fragmented in many small states and kingdoms, in 1861. But the history of Turin, albeit not as glorious as the one of ather famous italian cities, goes back many centuries. Our city has almost 2000 years of history, from the first roman "castrum" (fortified military camp) to the imperial city of the Roman Empire in the I century. Indeed there are still now important ruins of the roman city.
Among the characteristics of Turin there are the regular grid of the streets (originating directly form the first roman camp) and the many buildings (mostly palaces and churches) baroques and of the XIX century.
Turin will also held the Winter Olympic Games of 2006.
To begin exploring in depth our city you can strat from:
City of Torino: www.comune.torino.it
Guarini and the dome of the Cathedral: www.csi.it/cupola